Texas Democratic giant Rapoport dies at 94

Published 4:23 pm, Friday, April 6, 2012

Bernard Rapoport, a prominent Democratic donor and philanthropist who was born and reared on San Antonio's West Side, died late Thursday in Waco.

He was 94.

Known by his friends and admirers simply as “B,” Rapoport was a graduate of Jefferson High School and the University of Texas. It was at Jefferson that Rapoport transformed from a radical Marxist to a Democrat.

He worked his way through college at an Austin jewelry store and later made a fortune with an insurance company he founded in Waco.